Japan’s sharing economy limps behind China

Bloomberg Feel like sharing? Japan might not be your place.Once home to the world’s biggest technology drivers in the 1980s, Japan has missed the boat when it comes to expanding its sharing-economy sector. Miles behind the US and dwarfed by China by more than two thousand to one, Japan’s sharing economy is also smaller than that of other developed economies ...

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Jinmao’s Hong Kong office searched in graft probe

Bloomberg Chinese state-backed developer China Jinmao Holdings Group Ltd. said its Hong Kong office was searched in a corruption probe. The company’s shares fell as much as 3.3 percent in Hong Kong on Wednesday and JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded the stock. Jinmao and its units are not the subject of the investigation, the company said in a filing to ...

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Bernanke’s anxiety

Ben Bernanke is worried — and perhaps we should be, too. As chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, it was Bernanke who, along with others, prevented the worst recession since World War II from becoming the Great Depression 2.0. Now he fears that, should another sharp recession occur, the Fed won’t be able to contain it. Traditionally, ...

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What Trump accomplished in first nine months in office

There’s a bit of a phony debate breaking out about Donald Trump’s accomplishments. On the one hand, the president himself is his usual bombastic and factually inaccurate self about what he’s done in office. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump claimed “perhaps no Administration has done more in its first 9 months than this Administration. Over 50 ...

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Give Yellen another term

President Donald Trump is weighing one of his most consequential appointments: Who should lead the Federal Reserve after current chair Janet Yellen’s term ends in February? The choice comes down to whether the president wants broad continuity in the way the Fed does its job — or a big change, and the accompanying uncertainty. The US economy has done well ...

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The Brexit talks are running out of time

In view of the deepening Brexit gloom ahead of the meeting, last week’s amicable European Union summit was moderately encouraging: At least the talks didn’t break down. Both sides ought to understand, however, that when they meet next time, moving to actual trade negotiations is essential. Instead of negotiating the shape of their future trade arrangements, Britain and the EU ...

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Democratic presidents might have better luck

I always laugh when I see stories asking how many jobs the president has created. This language is common in the news media, as well as in the boasts of certain presidents. To be fair, most people understand the phrase as a shorthand for how much employment growth there was during a president’s time on the job. But many people ...

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Central banks require more accountability

The appointment of Italy’s new central bank governor has turned into a depressing power struggle. But for all the elements that make this a uniquely Italian affair, it also raises broader questions about how a country should balance independence and accountability in the event of a possible central bank failure. Matteo Renzi, the former prime minister and leader of the ...

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The harder Brexit gets, the more necessary it seems

Nobody was surprised that the European Union’s leaders refused to move the Brexit talks forward at last week’s summit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Donald Tusk talked of progress and suggested there’d be more at the next gathering in December, but this speck of encouragement shouldn’t obscure the bigger picture. The process is moving too slowly, and ...

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Indian state banks soar on record $32bn capital boost

Bloomberg India’s state-run banks surged in Mumbai trading after the government pledged to inject an unprecedented 2.11 trillion rupees ($32 billion) of capital into the beleaguered lenders to revive credit growth. State Bank of India jumped as much as 25 percent, the biggest intraday gain in eight years. Punjab National Bank advanced as much as 40 percent. The Nifty PSU ...

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